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Report: Boy Scouts consider dropping ban on gay members

If adopted by the organization’s board of directors, it would represent a profound change on an issue that has been highly controversial — one that even went to the US Supreme Court. The new policy, now under discussion, would eliminate the ban from the national organization’s rules, leaving local sponsoring organizations free to decide for themselves whether to admit gay scouts.

“The chartered organizations that oversee and deliver scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with their organization’s mission, principles or religious beliefs,” according to Deron Smith, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts’ national organization.

Individual sponsors and parents “would be able to choose a local unit which best meets the needs of their families,” Smith said.

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Sandusky is a true psychopath and the pleasure he got out of raping kids was about control, not about him trying to explore his sexuality or indulge in gay behavior.

CorporatePiggy on January 28, 2013 at 3:13 PM

He was a gay pedophile. Cut the B.S. and call him out for what he is. There are gays who aren’t pedophiles, and there are pedophiles who are gay. NAMBLA is also allowed to march in San Francisco gay rights parades.

Lots of people ‘indulge’ in gay behavior in prison. Violent gay acts.
Presumably you think they are just expressing their choice of an alternative lifestyle.
CorporatePiggy on January 28, 2013 at 3:29 PM

So what? Lots of gays marry female beards as cover while they pursue their true desires on the down low.

Basically you dislike gays more than other sinners. The reason is you are anti-gay, a bigot.

Capitalist Hog on January 28, 2013 at 2:42 PM

Your ignorance is nothing short of astounding in this day and age of having information instantly at your fingertips.

The word “abomination” is the strongest known word of disgust in the entirety of God’s creation. There is literally no stronger word for disgust. God ONLY uses it to warn against the gay lifestyle. No other sin invokes God’s anger to the point where he defines it as abomination except for homosexuality. In case you were unaware, God himself destroyed entire cities of thousands of people for no other reason than the abominable people they had become in HIS eyes.

Maybe the next time you start demanding that Godly people stop obeying God you’ll excuse them for laughing at you.

I’m not suprised by the move. The momentum in this country to normalize gay unions makes this inevitable. BSA National is, in my opinion, just trying to get ahead of the curve.

I’m an assistant scoutmaster in a socially-conservative area with a huge scouting presence. I’ve seen the social consensus change radically since that 2000 lawsuit. The youth (even the evangelical Christian youth) are much more accepting of their gay peers at school. Many of the younger dads in our troop have served in combat under “don’t ask, don’t tell” rules, so they are also fairly used to being around gays.

The UK scouts (birthplace of scouting) have had gay-inclusive policies for a few years, and thus far scouting has survived in the UK.

The key thing to understand is that the local sponsoring orgainization (a church, school, or community group) “owns” the troop they sponsor. A conservative religious troop (Muslim, LDS, or Evangelical) would probably not change their standards (and why would a gay family enroll their kid in such a troop?). A liberal mainline curch or secular community group would be free to advertise themselves as inclusive.

Now if we could get the Girl Scouts to allow male leaders, we might make some progress. Our local area has a “no men” policy —- funny how that never rates a media call-out for discrimination. My daughter rejected membership in Girl Scouts for that reason (but she made a pretty good unofficial Cub Scout while tagging along with me & her brother).

I just started watching that show on Netflix. I’m about halfway through season 4 but I don’t recall a scouting episode so it must be later on. Funny show. One of my favorite Bender lines, “Oh your god!”

I hope whatever decisions they make is based on the good of the organization, not the bullying of progressives and the reduction of funds. If they believe that no gays should be included they should suck it up and live within the means they can gather.